old bob at herne bay Posted August 22, 2021 Report Share Posted August 22, 2021 Damned if you do and damned if you don't. The margins of profit and loss are so tight nowadays that even running with the threat of rain nearby can affect attendances to show a loss , even though the track might be bathed in sunshine. Aside from the ludicrous non weather related calloffs 4 days in advance (usually a sign of financial difficulties) it seems reasonable to at least wait until the morning of meeting before even giving any indication of the meeting postponement. Seems the far travelling supporters book accommodation way in advance so any call off will not prevent them losing their accommodation costs. The other side of the coin is that sticking it out and trying to run a meeting on anything but a perfect surface runs the risk of the fickle riders calling it "unsafe" and the entire crowd going home unhappy and some never likely to return. (see Kings Lynn earlier this week) Must have travelled many hundreds of wasted miles to rain offs......... sometimes I have been lucky and seen a meeting I never dreamt would go ahead, and been entertained by the numerous incidents that a wet track shows up ....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petecc Posted August 22, 2021 Report Share Posted August 22, 2021 Those that are complaining are assuming that the track is dry and perfect just sitting there waiting to be ridden on before rain appears. Clubs do read weather forecasts days in advance of a meeting. A wet track will still be a wet track with only a little light rain. If its chucked it down for 4 days but is dryer on the fifth day it will still be wet. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodaman Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 16 hours ago, iainb said: So you think it was the right decision to cancel it even though it was clearly the wrong decision... this is the mess the sport has gotten itself into on this particular topic. It may well have been the correct business decision, I don't know, the club may have just been postponing their loss. It was certainly an incorrect sporting decision. Is Speedway the only sport that gets itself into such a mess with fixtures? I can think of no other. It's worse than it's ever been with rider availability, for whatever reason, and now we're postponing meetings because it might rain. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
szkocjasid Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 (edited) There is no easy answer to this, call it off early & the weather is good, people will say "should have waited"! Try & get the match on & it's rained off & people will say "should of called it off sooner"! Edited August 23, 2021 by szkocjasid 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
szkocjasid Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 One thing I would say is if they call off matches whenever there's a chance of rain, they will run out of dates to race fixtures! I'd imagine you'd get bad crowds racing in cold / wet October! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 55 minutes ago, szkocjasid said: There is no easy answer to this, call it off early & the weather is good, people will say "should have waited"! Try & get the match on & it's rained off & people will say "should of called it off sooner"! They've got to decide whether they're running a sport or 20 or so individual businesses... not just on this but a whole heap of topics 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronScorpion Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 2 hours ago, szkocjasid said: There is no easy answer to this, call it off early & the weather is good, people will say "should have waited"! Try & get the match on & it's rained off & people will say "should of called it off sooner"! Kings Lynn v Sheffield & U19's at Mildenhall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 5 hours ago, iainb said: They've got to decide whether they're running a sport or 20 or so individual businesses... not just on this but a whole heap of topics And they all should invest in some track covers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 6 minutes ago, mikebv said: And they all should invest in some track covers... Berwick have a set lying in storage somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevePark Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 1 hour ago, mikebv said: And they all should invest in some track covers... Not all tracks would be allowed to use covers. Newcastle being just one example. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 39 minutes ago, StevePark said: Not all tracks would be allowed to use covers. Newcastle being just one example. Why is that then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevePark Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 10 hours ago, iainb said: Why is that then? In Newcastle's case, the greyhound people need to get across and on to the speedway track during a greyhound meeting. Berwick can't put covers down if Berwick Rangers are playing at home on the same day are just two examples that I know of. I would think other greyhound owned stadiums have the same or similar rules to those at Newcastle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruffdiamond Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 1 hour ago, StevePark said: In Newcastle's case, the greyhound people need to get across and on to the speedway track during a greyhound meeting. Berwick can't put covers down if Berwick Rangers are playing at home on the same day are just two examples that I know of. I would think other greyhound owned stadiums have the same or similar rules to those at Newcastle. A would think that stadium/track access could prove problematic too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 Hardly insurmountable problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronScorpion Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 Any volunteers out there please to remove then replace covers before & after meetings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 2 hours ago, iainb said: Hardly insurmountable problems They are if you don’t own the Stadium 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topsoil Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 2 hours ago, iainb said: Hardly insurmountable problems What part of 'not allowed' is hardly insurmountable? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allthegearbutnaeidea Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 3 hours ago, iainb said: Hardly insurmountable problems Well if Berwick aren’t allowed to have covers on the track from 2pm-tapes up on a Saturday every second week, that’s a big problem really, and we’re the only team that has any 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 1 hour ago, topsoil said: What part of 'not allowed' is hardly insurmountable? The part where you negotiate and work with the stadium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Eck Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 19 minutes ago, iainb said: The part where you negotiate and work with the stadium Gosh! Genius! I bet no one thought of that one….. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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